Budist Friendsgiving: Weed, Friends, and Seriously Good Eats
If you are working in the cannabis industry now or have been for any amount of time, you understand firsthand how much the industry is struggling. Even still, once in a while, you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right. No apologies for the shameless Dead quote, but it’s hard out there right now. Everyone is feeling the pinch. But not all is lost. Those who continue to endure and those who continue to persist are making strides in carrying our industry to its rightful place in society and continue to normalize cannabis through collaborative, unique and memorable experiences.
I can’t think of a better trio than friends, good food and top-notch cannabis. So when the Budist team invited Fat Nugs to their Friendsgiving celebration, I loaded up the Prius and buzzed down the I-10 from Phoenix to the Pleasure Med campus in West Hollywood and checked out what the event was all about.
The First Budist Friendsgiving
Location: Plesure Med
The setting of the Friendsgiving event was at the Pleasure Med dispensary in West Hollywood. Pleasure Med is a combination of an apothecary-style dispensary, a full-service bar called the Hind, and an upscale restaurant, called Irie, serving world-class culinary delights. The setting was beautifully decorated with a cozy harvest motif and had me missing my Midwestern roots.
Ambiance: Classy Stoner Vibes
Vibes were chill and classy, yet super relaxed. Rich fall colors and natural décor softened the scene. Beginning the evening, there was a selection of beverages offered including a couple of local wines from Enriquez Estate, Three Spirits Botanical Alchemy, and an array of terpene-infused sparkling waters from Terpene Belt Farms. PAX was in the house with their engraving machine, giving away customized PAX Era hardware to accompany their live rosin and diamonds carts which were also conveniently supplied.
Pregaming with Mocktails and Terp Pairings
The Hind is where the evening kicked off. Crisp, cool wines from Enriquez Estate, and terpene pairings with Claudio along with an interactive Terpene Belt Farms activation with aromas expert Jamie Evans, aka The Herb Somm (@theherbsomm). My new friend, Silamith McLean ( @silasmith), from Three Spirit Sharp served up a variety of their non-alcoholic elixirs. Delicious and definitely recommended to those looking for alcohol alternatives.
The Food: Dinner, Dessert & Dabs
Each room was thoughtfully filled with different experiences.
Upstairs at the Irie, we were seated family style and served a wonderful four-course meal sewn together with expertly selected cannabis pairings each guided by Budist’s with their extensive knowledge of assessing flavors.
With the right combination, flavors, and experiences can be blended to create a symphony of the senses. Figuring out what those combinations are takes years of trial, error and training. Even though I am a sensory scientist with an extensive flavor palette, having trained and dedicated professionals helping to guide you through any sensory pairing helps to turn a good experience into a great one. It can take 5-10 years to become a master sommelier and understand flavors to pair wines with foods. With cannabis, it’s much the same.
It's events like Friendsgiving which help to bring cannabis into its rightful place in our society. Big love to the cannabis aficionados, connoisseurs, Ganjier’s, and Budist’s everywhere elevating cannabis to new heights by educating and normalizing the plant we all love.
Serving and seating family style was a great way to break the ice and meet new friends around the table. Cannabis is the mycelium that connects us and bridges us to and through the many intersections of life. It’s our buffer. Our homeostasis helps give us that warm fuzzy feeling even during uncertain times.
Christina Wong (@toastymuffin) of Fruit and Flower Co. is at the forefront and leading the charge in helping to normalize cannabis and food through less intimidating, more approachable, and more freeing. A place to safely and fruitfully learn, experiment, and explore through food + desserts. Christina took us through the dinner pairings and connected each course to carefully selected cannabis products.
From the main course of meatloaf to the Brussel sprouts, each dish took standard Thanksgiving fair and turned it into special, mouth-watering, delectable morsels worth savoring over every bite.
The dessert bar with sweet treats was supplied by Poundcake’s Farm, Scratch Baked and Kanha. I was thankful the samples were un-infused which allowed me to indulge a bit more than I typically would have. I don’t eat much candy, so it was trouble for daily caloric intake when the dessert table was loaded up with delicious baked goods from Poundcake’s Farm and Scratch Baked.
The gummy belts from Kanha were fresh, tender, and packed with flavor. I took a nice sampling home to share with my wife. She quickly located and enjoyed the 25 mg belts in our goodie bag. At 25 mg a strip, you have a nice gummy-to-milligram THC ratio.
I am a hash-head and a sucker for nostalgia, so when I heard Heritage Farms brought a special hookah from Frenchie Canoli and bubble hash provided by Frenchie’s apprentice, Belle the Hashmaker, I indulged and was lifted to a magical place.
Hash bar hosted by The Cannabis Culture Club with live Rosin from Rosin Tech Labs, Heritage Hash Farm and Jetty Extracts. Young Slabby (Camran Hussein) was our solventless guide and came stacked with some of the finest live rosin around. I hit the rosin bar 3 to 4 times in order to really get the premium experience I was looking for.
As a connoisseur of quality, the Budist Friendsgiving event tickled all my senses and stimulated my mind with great conversation and company. All this wouldn’t be possible without Rachel Burkons (@smokesipsavor) and Jocelyn Sheltraw (@jocybossy) and Claudio Miranda organizing and driving the concept from drawing board to reality. Rachel, Jocelyn, Claudio, and the Budist team pulled together an amazing group of cannabis lovers and flavor junkies in a fabulous location where we were able to mingle and consume like we would during any normal day in our life. I'm already looking forward to next year’s Budist Friendsgiving with my canna-family.
